Luminous letter



J. P. SHERIDAN.

LUMINOUS LETTI'ER. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18. 1921.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

o m 5 m m 5 PM J 0 Q m a ITNESSES A TTOR/VE Y-S UNITED STATES I JOSEPH PETER SHERIDAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LUMINOUS LETTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

, Patented Mar. 14,1922.

Application filed August 18, 1921. Serial No. 493,499.

To all whom it may comer n:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH P. SHERIDAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement'in Luminous Letters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to luminous figures visible in the. dark.

Prior to this invention certain luminous compounds have been used to paint figures and letters on various backgrounds in order to create signs visible at ni ht, and a general result has beendefined t at is. not visible at any great distance, or a sign the letters of which glow to such an extentthat the different lines of the letters seem to merge into one another and are not' legible.

The object of this invention is to provide means for making luminous figures that are legible and visible in the dark for some considerable distance. p

. This object is accomplished through defining the desired figure on any background by means of a strip of radium luminous material.

This and other objects of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description and accompanying drawing.

Figure 1 is a sign showing how the letters are defined by a strip of radium luminous material.

Figure 2 is a cross section along the line 2-2 of Fig. l. Referring to the above mentioned figures, a foundation 10 which may consist of a great variety of materials is provided. In this case a platev which is painted black has been selected for. the foundation or background. .The letters are painted on this background 10 by the use of ordinary white radium luminous material which makes the letter legible.

. It is not necessary to first paint the letters on the background,- but they may be defined by the use of a strip of radium luminous material. However, good results may be obtained by using a background 'of any ordinary materialand outlining the letters as described in the previous sentence. In case the sign is to indicate a direction and is 'cut the shape of an arrow, the front edge of the arrow is defined by a strip of radium luminous material Another advantage of ]S that it is cheap to construct; a sign the letters of which are altogether made by' means of radium luminous material would be very expensive. Signs constructed by the use of letters defined by a strip of radium luminous material decrease the cost by over one-half.

I would state in conclusion that while the a sign of this type v background by the use of a luminouscom- 2 pound, andgitt strip of radium luminous material applied to the figure to define the edges of the same. j

3. A sign of the class described comprising a-foundation, a background painted on the foundation by the use of a low grade of radium luminous material, and strips of a higher grade of radium luminous material superimposed on the luminous background to define the fi ures.

JOSEP 1 PETER SHERIDAN. 

